LEAGUE President Chris West will tonight call for a report from the umpires following the fiasco which took place at Saltburn on Saturday.

Blackhall declared with only 72 runs on the board for the loss of seven wickets and there was further controversy when Saltburn replied with 75 without loss. Skipper Tony Bell took the unusual step of choosing to retire.

West said: "I want to determine exactly what went on and then decide what action, if any, to take. It is not something we want to see and clearly we cannot ignore the matter so we will be discussing it at our meeting on Monday.''

It is understood that the aggravation started when Blackhall's stand-in professional Azif Jan was run out when he claimed he was taking evasive action as the ball was returned to the wicket.

Relations between the two sides deteriorated, culminating in Blackhall captain Tony Booth declaring the innings. The Colliers then bowled a number of wides resulting in Bell taking the decision to retire. There were an amazing 29 extras in the winning total of 75-0.

Blackhall are 12 points adrift at the bottom of the table, after only one win this season.

Northallerton are back at the top following their five-wicket victory over Hartlepool. Jonathan Barnes and John Sample both took four wickets at economical cost as Pools were all out for 107, which included 42 by John Cannon.

Ian Jackson and Ashley Day made early inroads into the home innings before Doug Mulholland with 30 and Barnes (40 not out) took their side to within sight of victory before the partnership was broken.

Guisborough have dropped back to second position in what is becoming an increasingly close race for the title.

They went down by eight wickets to Bishop Auckland, who are now only ten points off the top.

Phil Timmens conceded only 28 runs taking six wickets and Guisborough were all out for a mere 78. Amul Mazumdar (42 not out) completed the task in partnership with Ben Usher who hit 21 not out.

Marske professional Rob Nicol has been outstanding all season but reserved his best performance for Great Ayton.

He crashed a marvellous 153, with four sixes and 17 fours from the 137 balls he received, as Marske romped to 267-7 before declaring after 49.2 overs.

Great Ayton, though, battled for a draw and 48 from 101 deliveries by John Grainge enabled them to end with 169-8 on the board. Nicol followed up his exhilarating performance with the bat conceding just 31 runs in 16 overs for four wickets.

Neil Pratt was another batsman to reach three figures in Darlington's eight-wicket win at Redcar where the target of 162 quickly evaporated.

Pratt dominated his team's reply ending unbeaten on 106.

Martin Hood and Mohamed Qureshi both scored 34 and Jason Robinson contributed 30 to the Redcar total of 161-7. Stephen Chapman captured four of the wickets for 77.

Shanoka Dissanayake was the matchwinner for Richmondshire against Darlington RA at Brinkburn Road.

He was in outstanding form with the ball, returning an analysis of 7-63 as RA were sent back for 143. More than half the runs were scored by Wilden Cornwall with 77.

Mark Layfield opened Richmond's reply with 45 before Dissanayake took charge ending undefeated on 33 in his team's six-wicket victory.

Middlesbrough continued their climb up the table and are now fifth after seeing off Normanby Hall with ease.

Colin Haslett and Brett Roberts both made half centuries leading Boro to 216-5 in 15 overs.

Brenton Parchment added 39 and then also starred with the ball claiming three wickets for just five runs in five overs. Jack Conway was the top wicket-taker and his 12.1 overs yielded 4-23 as Normanby Hall laboured through 39.1 overs making only 99.